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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

A 3-month trial in 150 women with polycystic ovary syndrome: berberine lowered insulin resistance

An and colleagues · Clinical endocrinology · 2014

Original title: The use of berberine for women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing IVF treatment.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Fasting glucose, fasting insulin and insulin resistance fell more with berberine or metformin than with placebo. Berberine was linked to larger drops in BMI than metformin. No numbers are given in the abstract.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
150 people · 150 women with polycystic ovary syndrome who could not get pregnant and were preparing for IVF
What was tested
Berberine, metformin or placebo tablets for 3 months before IVF
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
13 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Clinical endocrinology, 2014
Source
PubMed record 23869585. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 150 people.
  • •Lasted 13 weeks.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: weight and blood sugar

    7

    7 benefit

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    7

    5 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

  4. Population studies

    2

    2 benefit

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    1

    1 benefit

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does berberine help with weight loss and blood sugar?”

Lowers blood sugar in diabetes; weight unclear.

Confidence: low. Based on 28 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 6 papers on the same step: 4 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 28 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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